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54: first semifinal

(Comment goal is 15)

“Sorry I’m late,” Kagami apologized once he and Kuroko had entered the locker room for Seirin.

“Ah, you’re here,” Kirika greeted with a smile.

“You’re late,” Hyuuga scowled.

“Did you get shoes?” Riko questioned with her hands on her hips, causing the two to nod.

“Yeah.”

“Yes.”

“The Rakuzan-Shutoku game is starting soon,” Kiyoshi commented, glancing at Kirika. She nodded in agreement as she adjusted her grip on her clipboard.

“Um, just how strong is Rakuzan?” Furihata asked hesitantly. Hyuuga was the one to answer.

“They’re a super strong school that’s been participating in the Winter Cup since its inception. They’ve won more tournaments than any other school. For the past five year, they’ve won all three major titles,” He paused with a grave expression. “In a word, they’re the strongest high school team.”

This revelation drew a few gasps from the first years, their faces wrought with worry. “And their line up this year is the strongest it’s ever been,” the captain continued.

“Seijuro Akashi of the Generation of Miracles..” Kagami breathed.

“Yeah,” Hyuuga confirmed. “But he’s not the only one. Do you remember the Uncrowned Kings?” He questioned briefly before going on to explain. “Five prodigies overshadowed by the generation of miracles: there’s Kiyoshi and Hanamiya and the remaining three players are all on Rakuzan.”

“While it may seem like the cards are stacked in Rakuzan’s favor,” Seirin’s manager spoke up, drawing everyone’s attention. “As long as we don’t give up, there’s a chance. But first, before we can worry about Rakuzan,” She glanced around the room at each person. “We have to challenge and beat Fukuda Sogo Academy.”

“Right!”

Finally, the stadium went up in cheers as the teams arrived. “They’re out! The veterans of 11 consecutive appearances! The veteran kings, Shutoku King!”

“They’re here!”

“The strongest high school team!”

“The emperors since the beginning of time, Rakuzan High!”

“What a pain in the ass,” Murasakibara grumbled as he walked over to the top of the stadium seats. “If you want to watch the game, watch it yourself, Murochin,” He complained.

“Don’t be that way,” Himuro smiled knowingly as the purple giant came to stand next to him. “Atsushi.”

“Can I leave?”

“I have seaweed and salt chips,” The shooting guard held up a bag, causing the giant’s expression to soften as he took it.

“I’ll have some.”

“It’s starting,” Himuro said, drawing their eyes to the court. “Who do you think will win?”

“Hmm,” He glanced at him before looking back at the court. “Who knows? When it comes to shogi, Aka-chin’s never lost a game.”

“Shogi?” the man asked in confusion.

“They played a lot during breaks,” The giant went on to explain. “I can’t imagine Aka-chin losing.”

“The first semifinal game of the Winter Cup between Rakuzan high and Shutoku high will now begin!” The referee announced. “Bow!”

“Let’s have a good game!” The two teams echoed as their stood on either side of the half court line. And then, the game commenced.

~*~

The halftime scores were tied at 39s when the two off teams came to start their warm up. “They’re here,” Himuro leaned forward. “The second game’s teams are warming up during the break.”

“Hey there Midorima,” Haizaki greeted with a smug grin as the two walked past each other. “Looking good out there, keep it up.”

“I don’t need encouragement from the likes of you.”

“Oh, ouch, did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?” The ace teased, still grinning.

“He always wakes up on the wrong side of the bed,” Takao snickered. “Come on Shin-chan.”

“Hmph,” The man huffed, continuing on his way as Haizaki smirked after him. Meanwhile, at the other court entrance, Akashi and Seirin had quite the encounter before Rakuzan took their leave. Because of that, those on Seirin failed to notice a very important detail until they were mid-warmup.

“Hold on a second,” Kagami’s eyes darted around, almost frantically. “Where’s Aizen?”

“Huh?” Haizaki glanced back at him, hearing it from how worried the guy was. Then he rolled his eyes with a scoff.

“Sorry to disappoint,” Ishida was the one to step forward. “But Yano may not be joining us for this game.”

“What?” Kagami’s eyes widened even further.

“Are you serious?” Izuki demanded.

“Yano isn’t playing?” Koganei questioned to himself, trying to make sense of it.

“What…?” Kirika’s eyes were also wide; why would he skip out on a game? With us, no less? I know he was looking forward to it…

“Yeah,” Haizaki shrugged. “He might make the last quarter, but who knows, considering the situation.”

“What situation?” Kagami demanded, taking a threatening step towards the other team’s ace.

“There was a mishap at his company in the department he manages,” Ishida responded instead. “It sounded like an emergency, from what he told us. Anyway, he did tell us to express his apologies to you. However,” His eyes hardened. “Yano also told us to tell you not to hold back just because he isn’t here.”

“Ha,” the redhead exhaled sharply, a new fire in his eyes. “He should know he doesn’t need to worry about that from us. We’ll give this game everything we’ve got!”

“Good,” Haizaki smirked. “Don’t expect us to hold back either. Hope you can manage,” He snickered as the buzzer sounded, signaling for the two teams to make their way off of the court so the game could resume.

Meanwhile, Aizen was pissed. He’d done practically everything for them. He’d laid out the path for success, and what did they give him? Failure. It had been so simple that even a child could do it, he was so sure, and yet…

“Fuck,” He cursed. How did they manage to screw up the project this badly? He just couldn’t understand it. And the fact that this mishap had torn him away from a game, no less, made him feel even shittier. However, he was glad that Takizawa had been understanding, as had the rest of the team.

“This is just a high school basketball game,” the coach had told him when he’d apologized. “Your situation is a real life matter that can effect the economy and the fate of your company, so of course you have to go.”

“Don’t worry about us,” Haizaki had been the next to step up and give his approval. “We’ll beat Seirin’s asses with or without you there. So go take care of whatever it is and come back soon.”

“They really are growing on me,” The CTO chuckled, and finally buckled down and started working to fix the things his former-employees had messed up.